Starting September 1, Costa Rica will reactivate cruise tourism for the 2021-22 season in order to stimulate the tourism industry and employment in coastal areas. As a requirement, vessels must guarantee complete vaccination schedules against the COVID-19 virus in all crew members and 95 percent of passengers who are of age to be vaccinated.
Permitted vaccines are those authorized by the National Commission of Vaccination and Epidemiology, and the last dose must have been administered at least 14 days prior to departure. Given the nature of the cruise activity, both crew members and cruise passengers are covered by travel insurance.
"The resumption of this tourist activity will benefit the ports of Limón, Puntarenas, Caldera, Quepos and Golfito," said Gustavo J. Segura, minister of tourism, in a press statement. "Each passenger spends an average of $137 per day, which has an important impact on the reactivation of local economies in coastal communities.”
Segura said that in the run-up to the reopening, nine cruise lines have included Costa Rica in their itineraries: Windstar Cruises, Lindblad Expeditions, Sea Cloud Cruises’ Sea Cloud, Seabourn’s Seabourn Quest, Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Millennium, Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Pride, Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess and Diamond Princess, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Seven Seas Mariner. Five of these cruise lines will arrive in Limón and the remaining ones will arrive in Pacific ports.
Four of the cruise lines that currently include Costa Rica in their itineraries have an average capacity of 2,500 passengers, while five have an average capacity of fewer than 500 passengers. The first cruise ship currently scheduled to arrive is Windstar’s on September 2 in Golfito with approximately 150 passengers on board.
In addition to a complete vaccination schedule against COVID-19, cruise passengers must complete the epidemiological form called “Health Pass” 72 hours prior to their arrival in the country.
During the 2019-20 season, 239,566 cruise passengers arrived in the country: 113 cruise ships arrived in the Pacific and 84 in the Caribbean. Due to the pandemic, there was no 2020-21 cruise season worldwide.
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